Offering Hope for the Future

May 9, 2021 Background Scripture: Isaiah 29 Lesson Passage: Isaiah 29:13 – 24 One must tread lightly when considering words of prophecy. The prophetic word remains under a shroud of obscurity until all of it has been fulfilled. It is common for prophecy to carry multiple meanings that are suitable for different points in time. Doubtless, the original recipient(s) of prophecy understood it for the times in which they lived. Likewise, many succeeding generations understood it for what had been fulfilled in the past, what was at the present time being fulfilled, and what would be fulfilled at some unknown time in the future. This cycle repeats until the final fulfillment of the prophetic word. This is one of the ways that the living word of God speaks in a timeless fashion. The prophetic word has the power to warn, rebuke, correct, and offer encouragement to the people of God throughout generations. Today’s Background Scripture comes from Isaiah, the most prolific of the writing prophets. Isaiah’s writing described the suffering of the Messiah in such details that its fulfillment has been better understood as a result. It is the fulfillment of portions of the prophecy that gives assurance for the remainder. Like most prophecy, the element of time is often excluded. Therefore, what remains are the details of the events that happen over the course of time. In the Lesson Passage, God ridicules the efforts of His people to establish military alliances in secret while continuing to praise and worship Him with lip service. They praised and worshipped an all-powerful God while looking to align with other nations for their physical security. God reminded them of the relationship between the potter and the clay. The Potter is the One who is sovereign, and the clay is the one who is subservient. Any effort on the part of the clay to ignore, or disregard, the superiority of the Potter is an attempt to bring the Potter down to its level. Despite their feeble efforts, God promised to bring the desired deliverance that was needed by His people. Such deliverance will again cause them to hear the word of the Lord and rejoice. They shall see and perceive the works of God and rejoice in those works. God will give them hearts of understanding when they see the works He performs in their children. Today, those of us who put our trust in God for eternal salvation should rejoice that He is immutable. Because God never changes, we have the assurance that what we have seen in His word applies to us today. So, what is in today’s lesson? First, God knows how to give His people what we need even when we go out of our way to find it elsewhere. Alliances with others can only yield human results. Sometimes that is woefully short of what we need. Human results are not solutions for spiritual problems. Yet, we still make human alliances. Thankfully, God gives us what we need. Secondly, even when our praise and worship is only superficial because it is done out of tradition or habit, God knows how to draw sincere praise and true worship from within us. When it is time, God will cause our blessings to overflow and spontaneous praise to issue forth. God does not bless us because we deserve it. God blesses us because of who He is. Finally, no matter how dark the past or how dismal the present, God always gives us hope for the future. Robert C. Hudson April 17, 2021